


Following the Sea Breeze

by Eiliem



Series: The Ends of the Sea [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Family, Funeral, Gen, POV Third Person, Strawhats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-24
Updated: 2009-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eiliem/pseuds/Eiliem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Funerals are times of mourning, of reflection, of family reunions. And starting new adventures.</p><p>Sequel to Farewell to the Harbour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Following the Sea Breeze

There was no music at Brook's funeral.

Which was a pity, because if anyone deserved to have music send them off to the next world, it was the man who had brought so much of it to the Thousand Sunny. Luffy's long-desired musician.

Apparently there had been a limit to Brook's Devil's Fruit. A second life, a second lifespan. No more.

The fading away became more pronounced after Laboon died (and Zoro would never voice the uncharitable thought, but it was _unfair_ that a whale 50 years older than any of them had outlived Chopper), though it may have even started as early as Luffy's death.

Whenever it started, however, the result was that the undead musician took to sleeping for longer and longer periods of time and – most worrying of all – sometimes seemed unaware of his surroundings.

Two and a half years ago Brook visited Nami on Cocoyashi, and she'd insisted he stay. Whether because no one said "no" to Nami, little old lady or not, or because he was enthusiastically adopted by Nami's hometown, or even because he could sense the end coming, Brook had agreed. Someone rigged up a hammock in the orange orchard that was now tended by one of Nami's grand-nieces and Brook spent the last of his life sleeping for days – sometimes months – at a time, while Nami watched her sister's family grow and the grand-niece sang halting lullabies as she worked.

He'd been increasingly disoriented whenever he woke, but Nami said he remained cheerful till the very end. And his musical genius never dimmed.

For two and a half years, Cocoyashi Island had music. And then, one day, the grand-niece went to check up on Brook and found only a skeleton.

It sounded absurd: how did one distinguish between a sleeping animated skeleton and a truly dead one? But Zoro didn't doubt when Nami sent the news, and when he'd arrived for the funeral and seen the bones of their friend for himself, he knew he wouldn't have made the mistake either.

They were four now. The crew from East Blue – minus their captain.

Luffy should be _here_, Zoro thought, as he always did in these moments. Here to throw their departed nakama a party for the afterlife and to comfort those left behind.

It was ridiculous that they should even need comforting. They weren't strangers to death; they didn't expect people to live forever. And he doubted Nami or Usopp or Sanji were bothered by the reminder of their own mortality as their number of living nakama dwindled. Zoro certainly wasn't concerned.

No, it was the… goodbyes that hurt. The thought that he had seen the last of those precious faces; that he might never hear his departed nakama shout or laugh or sing again.

"Brook can introduce his captains to each other." It was typical – if appropriate – that Usopp should break the silence. And the image he presented: Luffy and Brook and Brook's long dead crew, partying in the afterlife…

Zoro smiled.

"Do you think Luffy would be mad at us? For letting ourselves grow apart and lose touch?" Sanji mused.

Nami laughed – and damn if Zoro hadn't missed the sound. "He'd tell us to go and have an _adventure!_" She said, throwing her hands up in eerie imitation of Luffy at his most enthusiastic.

"We should." Usopp said.

"Should what?"

"Have an adventure. For Luffy. And-" their other nakama, who'd gone ahead and joined Luffy on his most mysterious journey.

"Well…where would we go?"

"West Blue." Zoro heard himself say. "We'll take Brook's ashes home."

"West Blue." Sanji said slowly, as if tasting the idea. "Yeah, he'd like that."

"From East Blue to West Blue." Nami smiled approvingly. "It's an adventure."

Zoro would never admit to it, but he hated how daunting the idea of dragging his tired, creaking body halfway across the world was.

"We'll each bring a student." Nami said decisively.

"A stud- why?" Usopp looked taken aback, his vision of a nakama reunion-adventure going up in smoke.

"Because I'm old and tired and I like the idea of people waiting on me hand and foot."

"How is this any different from when you were _young_?" Zoro grumbled. But she had a point: Nami was a genius of weather and maps but she could use a pair of _seeing_ eyes when navigating; Sanji could never be separated from his kitchen, but if he were sitting down barking orders at a student instead of running around himself, it would keep him off his worn-out legs. And it wasn't that Zoro and Usopp couldn't man a small ship but—

Having a few young pairs of hands about the place wouldn't hurt.

"And one of Robin's students," Nami continued, "the one – what was her name – who—" had sent a message to each of Robin's surviving nakama, when the archaeologist passed away.

"Wren. Inoue Wren." Sanji, of course, would remember her name. Had actually attempted to comfort Robin's students at the funeral. Zoro hadn't found the words.

"We should bring her."

"Did Franky have any students?" Zoro asked.

"Well, some of the Franky Family are still around." How Usopp managed to keep track of all the people they'd met over the years never ceased to amaze Zoro. "And there was that new kid – do you remember? Spazzy little thing, worshiped the ground Franky walked on. Cried like a baby at the funeral."

"He can come too." Would only be fair, Zoro thought, to check up on how Franky's "spazzy little thing" had grown up.

"We'll need a doctor." Sanji said. And then, because he was an ass, he added: "seeing as how the Marimo is falling apart."

"You! At least I can still walk!"

"I can walk well enough to kick your ass!"

"_Boys_!"

"Yes Nami-swaa~n!" The simpering _bastard_ – if Sanji's student was as much a pain as he was, Zoro was chucking him overboard first thing.

"I guess we can swing by Chopper's teaching hospital and see if any of his students are still hanging around the place." Usopp suggested wryly. "We can bribe them with stories about the old witch – they usually bend over backwards to hear about Chopper's past." Kureha, Drum's legendary Healing Witch, had not outlived her adoptive son. Count small blessings.

Zoro would bring that spunky girl, the one who'd broken her jaw trying to use three swords on her first day. Jeanne or Joan or something. The one who reminded him of Sanji (curly-browed bastard) sometimes, with her desperate need to prove herself that had characterized the cook as a young man. Except that she was twice as vicious as Zoro had been, at that age – a bit like Nami. In any case, she'd be a good audience for Usopp: if she wasn't badgering him for tales about her sensei before they even set sail he'd eat Wadou.

"Dominic can be our navigator, he's a quick study. And I think we should bring Nariko." The grand-niece who'd taken care of Brook. "She sings well, and it wouldn't do to have an adventure without a musician – Luffy would be so disappointed."

"Can she leave the orchard?"

Nami waved a hand dismissively: the matriarch on her throne. "We'll arrange something."

"Uh…can I bring two?"

"Two students Usopp?"

"Well, there's this girl – actually she's a young woman now – anyway, she's a great sniper but we should also have a storyteller, don't you think? There's a pick pocketing brat in Nanohana–"

"A pick pocket?"

"Don't ask."

"Too late!" Sanji declared gleefully "How much did he steal from you?"

"You're a bastard, did you know that?"

"Answer the question Usopp." Nami cajoled.

Usopp sighed. "He got my wallet – I have no idea how much was in it, Nami, don't look like that – and then he tracked me down after he found out who I was and made me tell him stories about Luffy."

"In exchange for your wallet?" Ah, Nami, never loses track of the more important things in life. Like money. And money.

Usopp laughed. "Hell no – well, actually, yes. After he kindly removed all the beli from it."

Nami was scanalized.

Sanji laughed. "So Usopp is bringing a sniper and a little pick pocket – who is going to stay far away from Nami-san if he knows what's good for him. Anyone we've forgotten?"

"…Luffy–"

The name, barely whispered, silenced them. How to answer Usopp? And it was evident he had no clearer idea than they. But for the four of them, Luffy had no one left on this earth to stand in for him. Shanks was long gone. Ace had finally followed after his brother not a year ago.

Luffy had touched so many lives, but of his _family_, almost no one remained.

"Luffy is captain." Nami said softly.

Luffy was captain. Luffy would always be captain.

They sat in silence for a while after that. The calm before whatever storm they would engage in this newest adventure. Together.

"Yo-hohoho. Yo-hohoho-" Usopp started softly, self-consciously. "Yo-hohoho~"

They joined him.

"Going to deliver Bink's Sake!  
Following the sea breeze!  
Riding on the waves~"

It was the farewell Brook deserved. Brook's song, the song of nakama and dreams.

"~Farewell to the harbour,  
to my hometown~"

Four worn-out, ancient pirates were going to take a shipful of students halfway around the world to lay to rest the ashes of a twice-dead musician. Led by the memory of their dead captain.

"As we all set sail to the ends of the sea~"

It was absurd.

"Waving our goodbyes,  
we'll never meet again!  
But don't look so down;   
for at night the moon will rise~"

It was crazy.

"Doesn't matter who you are,  
someday you'll just be bones~".

It was perfect.

"Never-Ending, Ever-wandering,  
our funny Travelling tale!"

 

Somewhere, Luffy laughed.


End file.
